The action and battlegrounds are almost always in the states and redistricting is a perfect example of this. State Legislatures, Governors and Redistricting Commissions are drawing boundary lines and finding creative ways to pass their maps. A few more states (IN, MO and OK) have recently succeeded in this attempt while a couple have had bitter fights seeing the legislative process break down and fail to approve new maps (CO, MS and NV).

As I will point out in the comments regarding Louisiana below, keeping an eye on the Voting Rights Act (VRA) states when you have opposite party control converging for approval (Democrat White House/Department of Justice vs. states with Republican controlled redistricting process) could provide for some interesting fireworks. The VRA applies statewide in seven states that Republicans have complete control over the redistricting process (AK, AL, GA, LA, NC, SC, TX). Pay very close attention to Texas. The VRA applies to some counties or townships in two additional states that Republicans have complete control over the redistricting process (FL and MI).

Here are many of the top redistricting updates since my last update:

Alaska

Ron Miller, Executive Director of the Alaska Redistricting Board, died unexpectedly on May 8. The Redistricting Board is responsible for the State House and Senate maps while the Congressional maps are drawn by the State Legislature.

Arizona

Colleen Coyle Mathis, Chairwoman of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, has stated that they expect to have maps drawn by the fall. Following reapportionment, Arizona gained one congressional seat and will now have nine seats.

Colorado

Legislative Session? Completed. Maps finished? Not a chance! Blame game being played? Oh, yeah. The Governor could call the State Legislature into a special session to try to draw the maps, but that is unlikely and the next step should a showdown in the Courts, where Democrats and Republicans have already filed their own lawsuits.

Georgia

Governor Nathan Deal is expected to call a Special Session for August 15 to tackle redistricting. Following reapportionment, Georgia gains one seat, giving the state 14 seats.

Indiana

Done. While Republican leaders talked about compact districts and keeping communities of interest together, they performed gerrymandering surgery on the new Congressional and State Legislative maps. Republicans will have a good opportunity, with the right candidate and environment, to pick up the 2nd district seat held by Democrat Rep. Joe Donnelly and change the delegation to 7-2 Republican from 6-3 Republican. Freshman Rep. Todd Rokita (R-4th) will move back into the 4th and will be the prohibitive favorite to win in 2012.

Louisiana

While the state has completed redistricting, the maps must be approved by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a result of the VRA. Keep an eye on this since the Republicans drew the Louisiana maps and the DOJ is a Democrat administration. Louisiana will likely be the state to answer the question of which is more important in a VRA state – control of the House, Senate and Governor’s office or control of the White House and DOJ?

Mississippi

A three judge federal panel has given the Republican Senate and Democrat House a firm directive of redrawing new state legislative maps immediately or run the 2011 state legislative races under the current district lines. It is highly unlikely a special session will be called and that both parties could agree upon drawing new maps by the June 1 candidate qualifying deadline to hold elections this year. The current maps will thus be used for the 2011 elections, the 2012 legislative session will redraw maps and the possibility of a special election before the 2011 term that ends in 2015 exists. With the completion of the legislative session, a special session will be required to complete the congressional maps to meet the current January 1, 2012 candidate qualifying deadline.

Missouri

Done – with drama. Republicans controlling the House and Senate finally figured out how to sing off the same page and passed their Congressional and State Legislative maps. Democrat Governor Jay Nixon quickly vetoed the maps, which puzzled many Democrats since this gave Republicans enough time in the current session to conduct a veto override vote. After some deal making, four House Democrats sided with Republicans and the veto-proof Senate followed suit to override the Governor’s veto. Due to reapportionment, Missouri lost one seat and Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-3rd) is left without a district, although he may run in MO-02.

Nevada

The Democrat controlled legislature approved maps last week and Hispanic Republican Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed them. Like Colorado, Nevada will be heading to the Courts and force judges to play cartographer. Sandoval stated, “In the last 10 years, the Hispanic community in our state has grown significantly. The law and common sense requires that we recognize this fact and afford Hispanics an equal opportunity to election representatives of their choosing.” The packing versus spreading out of Hispanic voters in districts will continue to be a hot button issue in many states. At the State Senate level, Clark County (Las Vegas) will likely be represented by 15 of the 21 districts.

Oklahoma

Done and uneventful. Over 98% of voters will remain in the same congressional district and none of the five districts changed by more than 2.5%. Oklahoma’s delegation is 4-1 Republican and will likely remain unchanged.

Texas

Current fight is over how many state senate districts will be represented by Austin. Legislative end date is set for May 30.

Virginia

The State Legislature has set a June 9 date to reconvene to discuss Congressional maps.

Current status on the congressional redistricting process:

Completed congressional redistricting:

AR, IA, IN, MO, OK

Completed congressional redistricting, waiting on approval from the Department of Justice due to compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965:

LA

State Legislature failed to draw a new map. Map will now be drawn by a Court:

CO, NV

Current status on the state legislative redistricting process

Completed state legislative redistricting:

IA, IN, MO, NJ, OK

Completed state legislative redistricting, waiting on approval from the Department of Justice due to compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965:

LA, VA

State Legislature failed to draw a new map. Map will now be drawn by a Court:

MS, NV

We expect the steady flow redistricting updates to continue as several states are deep in their legislative process, commissions are beginning their work and challenges are starting to emerge. We will continue to update you on the states we have already highlighted and will present new states in the coming weeks. > Check out our maps detailing redistricting control in each state.